Koyomi Araragi
Koyomi Araragi (阿良々木 暦, Araragi Koyomi) is a third year high school student who survived a vampire attack during spring break, and barely regained his human life in the time that followed. As a boy with remnants of his vampire traits left in him, he tries to live a normal life, until he encounters the unusual case of a girl who weighs close to nothing and drags him into the world of the paranormal. Appearance Koyomi is a young man with black hair, blue eyes, and a medium complexion. His hair covers his left eye, but covers his right eye, instead, in Kizumonogatari. He is currently growing out his hair in order to hide the bite marks on his neck. If not wearing his school uniform, he dresses casually, often clad in a parka and jeans. As noted by his sisters, his fashion sense is far from admirable. A feature unique to Koyomi and his sisters is a very expressive ahoge, which mirrors the emotions experienced. Personality Koyomi is a laid-back person, whose only real friend at school is Tsubasa Hanekawa. He's a poor student, close to failing every class except math. At home, Koyomi is the only person who thinks that his family relationship is bad, while his younger sisters, Karen Araragi and Tsukihi Araragi, believe otherwise. It is revealed through conversations that he's quite knowledgeable with anime; a fact which is even noted by Nadeko Sengoku once. Other characters, Mayoi Hachikuji and Hitagi Senjougahara especially, seem to speculate that Koyomi is a lolicon. He is very noble, which is why Hitagi is attracted to him. He is willing to help others at the cost of his own life. As such, the female characters he's helped are quite attached to him. He feels most comfortable talking to Mayoi about his problems. Background Koyomi is the eldest of three siblings, with Karen and Tsukihi as his younger sisters. Koyomi, Karen, and Tsukihi's parents were revealed to be police officers. Before his encounter with Hitagi, he was attacked by a vampire during spring break and became a vampire himself. Although Meme Oshino helped him become human again, there are several lingering side-effects: enhanced vision, superhuman strength, and a healing factor, which allows him to recover from non-fatal wounds within hours. He remains scared of morning sunlight, though it no longer affects him. Plot ''Hitagi Crab'' Araragi meets the quiet Hitagi Senjougahara by chance when Hitagi falls down the school's spiral staircase. There, he discovers that Hitagi weighs close to nothing. He later talks about the incident to the class representative Tsubasa Hanekawa while in the middle of their brainstorming for the upcoming school festival; unknown to Koyomi, Senjougahara overheard the conversation. Hitagi confronts Araragi about discovering her secret condition and asks him to keep quiet about it and to ignore her presence, leaving behind a piece of staple wire driven to his cheek as a threat if he breaks his promise. In spite of this, Araragi approaches Hitagi minutes later, showing the completely healed wound he got from Hitagi's attack earlier, followed by his statement that someone might be able to help her in returning to normal. Koyomi takes Hitagi by bike to Meme Oshino's place, and Araragi tells Meme about Hitagi's situation. After finding out that a supernatural entity called a "weight-crab" caused Hitagi's loss of mass, Meme agrees to help, although reminding Hitagi that only she can help herself overcome her condition. At midnight, Koyomi joins Hitagi on the ceremony that was designed to allow communication between Hitagi and the oddity that stole her weight. Initially, the ceremony went smoothly as planned, but the weight-crab that manifested suddenly attacks Hitagi. Fortunately, Meme is able to subdue the oddity enough for Hitagi to voice out her request. The weight-crab leaves soon after, curing Hitagi's condition at the cost of remembering her painful memories with her family. Hitagi then declares her friendship with Araragi. Koyomi would later become a victim to the weight-crab for some time, although it was evident that the oddity left almost immediately. ''Mayoi Snail'' On Mother's Day, Koyomi plans to spend the day at the park after having an argument with his younger sister Karen. He is soon joined by Hitagi, who sports a new attire, and she accompanies Koyomi at the park; they soon talk about Hitagi's determination to pay back her debt from Araragi and his problems at home. Araragi's attention soon shifts to a young girl who appears to be looking for directions. The girl, named Mayoi, repeatedly rejects Koyomi's friendly gestures, so he eventually loses his temper and a fight broke out between the two; unsurprisingly, Koyomi won. He then takes the chance to look at the slip of paper which has an address on it and, after asking Hitagi's help to go to where the address is, takes Mayoi along with them. She doesn't like Hitagi. Koyomi discovers that he and Hitagi are unable to locate the address Mayoi provided, so they ask help from Meme through a personal visit by Hitagi. While Koyomi waits, he talks to Mayoi and when he tries to touch her, she bites him. He has to punch her and knocks her out (again) so she releases his hand which is bleeding. Tsubasa Hanekawa passes by, sees Koyomi, and meets Mayoi, who dislikes her, too. Tsubasa find Mayoi so cute that she would "gobble her up". But Tsubasa scolds her for biting Koyomi's hand, knocks her head once, and demands an apology. Mayoi apologizes to Koyomi. Then Tsubasa also scolds Koyomi for hitting a child without explaining why so the child can understand what she did was wrong. Tsubasa asks if Mayoi lives nearby, and Koyomi explains that she is lost, but he sent Hitagi to get someone. She comments about his asking information on Hitagi, but she leaves that alone and leaves, instructing him to tell Hitagi that she said "Hi". Koyomi receives a call from Hitagi's cellphone, but Meme Oshino is who making the call. He talks about the new apparitions, and how Koyomi gets involved with them. Meme gets interrupted when he gets a threat from Hitagi and her stapler. Mene will give Hitagi the instructions of how to handle this new apparition, which is a ghost or a "lost cow". Then Meme hangs up. While Koyomi waits again, he confesses to Mayoi that he doesn't get along with his parents since he started high school, and his mother said that with his attitude he will always be a kid who can never grow up. Mayoi mispronounces Araragi's name quite a few times. Koyomi reveals some of his problems to Mayoi, and she reveals her parents breaking up and her fear of forgetting her mother to him Hitagi returns, detects the scent of another woman's shampoo (Hanekawa), apologizes and confesses that she cannot see Mayoi. Mayoi tells Koyomi her story and how she got lost while searching for her mother. Koyomi tells Hitagi that getting Mayoi to her mother is his duty. Hitagi reveals that she understands why Koyomi will help Mayoi because he is kind and will rescue anyone. She then declares that she loves him. Hitagi helps Koyomi find the address with a trick she learned from Meme. They walk in a different direction and end at an empty lot due to rezoning. Mayoi cries "I'm home!" and disappears. Hitagi ask Koyomi his reply, since she wanted him to express his feelings first. She enjoys talking with him and wants to talk with him more. He requests one condition or promise: pretend to see thing that she really can't see or pretend not to see things that you actually can - there will be none of that from now on. If they don't agree on something, then they will sit down and talk about it. She agrees, and they start to leave. She grabs his hand and asks him to put into words their new relationship. He answers "Senjougahara Fascination", and she smiles. Next morning, Koyomi sees Mayoi again and wonders why. She explains that she is now a "wandering spirit" and she will be wandering around the area for a while. She asks that if he sees her, please say "Hi!". ''Suruga Monkey'' ''Nadeko Snake'' ''Tsubasa Cat'' ''Karen Bee'' At the start of summer vacation, Koyomi undergoes tutorials from Tsubasa and Hitagi. During this time, his sisters have noticed that he had stopped doing leisure time with his sisters, which is in fact Koyomi's way of protecting them from his superhuman strength from being part-vampire. He later discusses his plans about his secret as a vampire from Mayoi, before heading to Nadeko in a promised visit to her house. After being kicked out of Nadeko's and paying a visit to Suruga Kanbaru's, Koyomi meets a mysterious figure who introduces himself as Deishuu Kaiki. When he tells Hitagi of this, she knocks him out and imprisons him for his own safety. Koyomi learns from Hitagi that Kaiki is the con-man who deceived her mother. Koyomi breaks free when he later gets a text from his sister asking for help. However, Hitagi only lets him leave when she gets a phone call from Tsubasa. Koyomi finds Karen in a feverish state and eventually learns that Kaiki inflicted her with poison from a supernatural bee during a confrontation with him. He is told by Shinobu Oshino, who he learns is actually quite talkative, that he must drain the poison from her. He manages to drain half of it, diminishing her fever somewhat. Koyomi is told by Hitagi that she has planned a meeting with Kaiki and convinces her not to confront him without him being there. He later returns home to find that Karen has left to once again meet up with Kaiki. With Shinobu's help he finds her but a serious battle ensues between them. However, he manages to convince Karen that her sense of justice is wrong and to let him deal with Kaiki instead. He and Hitagi later confront Kaiki who has already decided to leave the city and assures Koyomi that Karen will recover in a matter of days. Hitagi lets off the years of pain she had harbored against him and allows him to leave unscathed. ''Tsukihi Phoenix'' During this time, Koyomi starts finding himself in more lecherous positions with his sisters. For instance, when he and Karen play a game where Koyomi brushes her teeth the two are caught up in the moment and aroused by it. It even reaches to the point where Karen even gives her brother consent to grope her. He doesn't due to Tsukihi walking in on them. He also strips Tsukihi, but it is shortly revealed that this was due to his shock in finding that her scars had completely disappeared. However, he does grope her, claiming that he only wanted to see what her breasts felt like. Later on, due to certain circumstances he kisses Tsukihi and confirms he felt nothing from it. He then proceeds to put his life on the line for her, subsequently taking a beating worse than even the time he fought Kanbaru. ''Tsubasa Family'' During Golden Week, Koyomi has been overwhelmed by an inexplainable feeling whenever he sees Tsubasa and asks his sisters about this particular feeling. Tsukihi thinks that Koyomi is falling in love, but needs to distinguish true love from sexual frustration first; on the other hand, Karen thinks that his view of Tsubasa is understandable. Koyomi soon meets Tsubasa by chance and they have a quick stroll. Here, he found out that Tsubasa was hit by her father that morning, and has her cheek covered by bandages because of that. Koyomi decides to help her by using his vampire blood to heal the wound on her cheek. Afterwards, Koyomi and Tsubasa see a dead cat lying on the road, and Koyomi goes with Tsubasa as she buries the cat nearby. Later that day, Tsubasa transforms into a girl with feline traits and silver hair for the first time. Worried about Tsubasa's condition, he asks for Meme's help. Meme tries to subdue Tsubasa in her new form, but was unable to defeat her using non-lethal tactics even after twenty attempts. Koyomi then decides to deal with Tsubasa by himself. In his need to borrow Shinobu's oddity-killing sword Kokorowatari, Koyomi pleaded to Shinobu many times. Eventually, he manages to make Shinobu lend her sword to him. Soon, he concealed the sword in his body and lured Tsubasa into coming to the ruins of Eikou Cram School . There, he finds out that Tsubasa has a degree of control over the sawarineko that apparently "possessed" her, and that her actions as the oddity were fueled by her own thoughts. Enraged by this, Tsubasa attacks Koyomi and splits him in two, and ends up being injured by the Kokorowatari. However, Koyomi is shocked as the sawarineko loses control of itself, risking Tsubasa's identity in the process. Koyomi was later rescued by Shinobu, who was disappointed in seeing him use the sword in the wrong way. After swallowing the sword, Shinobu bites Tsubasa, suppressing the oddity inside her. Koyomi later makes a complete recovery after Shinobu uses her presence to boost Koyomi's regenerative abilities. After the events in Golden Week, Koyomi gives up on his feelings towards Tsubasa, but remained being friends with her. ''Tsubasa Tiger'' Koyomi spent most of his time outside of his house from the last days of summer break to the first days of the next school term, only informing Hitagi and Tsubasa about "something important that he needs to do" through text message. (Due to Tsubasa Tiger being told in Tsubasa's point of view, most of Koyomi's activities were left unknown but is later revealed in Shinobu Time.) When Tsubasa was about to be killed on the railroad near Hitagi's house by Kako, Koyomi comes out of nowhere in tattered clothes. He cast Shinobu's sword, Kokorowatari, into the back of Kako's neck from a distance, thereby ending the tiger's fiery rampage with one fatal strike. Before the tiger's imminent death, he asks Tsubasa if she wanted to absorb it into her body. After reassuring Tsubasa that she is herself with or without the tiger, Koyomi declined her confession of love. Koyomi would remain by her side, comforting Tsubasa. ''Mayoi Jiangshi'' In the early scene, Koyomi reminisces his conversation with Ougi Oshino . Koyomi looks for Mayoi to return her backpack that she left at his house. He has an encounter with Yotsugi and talks with her for a while before returns to his house after failed finding Mayoi. Shinobu reminds him that he only has a few hours left to finish his summer homework. Hearing this, Koyomi panicks and asks Shinobu to give him a time machine to travel to yesterday. Shinobu brings him to the abandoned temple and both of them travel to the past; eleven years ago instead of 'yesterday'. Koyomi decides to save Mayoi in the past but when they return to the future, the world is destroyed. They try to find survivors but all they can find are Jiangshi. After using the fireworks to have some fun or at least bring attention of any survivors, the Jiangshi surround them. A rice shower falls onto the Jiangshi and both of them are saved. The one who throws the rice is adult Mayoi. They find out that they are in different timeline after reading Oshino's letter. After their encounter with Kiss-Shot, they manage to return to their timeline. After that, Koyomi meets Mayoi and they walk together to his house to get Mayoi's backpack. Trivia *It seems he still has vampire fangs although it's not shown much. The fangs are visible in Episode 1 of Bakemonogatari when he's about to pull a staple from his mouth. *Araragi was not depicted in the light novels' illustrations. His character design was created by Akio Watanabe, who supervised the character designs for the anime series. *Koyomi has a fetish for short-haired girls; a fact that caused Tsubasa and Hitagi to change their hairstyles during summer vacation. *Koyomi's personality was portrayed more clearly in the novels, where his inner thoughts show him to be much more perverted and intelligent than the anime leads one to believe. Navigation Category:Characters Category:Males